We are back from a quick overnight trip to Lake Huron.
We had a good time seeing some sights, getting our feet wet, finding rocks and skipping rocks.
International Quilt Market in Kansas City
Whew. I'm home from my trip to Quilt Market in Kansas City with Brenda, Anna, and Debbie. It was exhausting but lots of fun. I learned a lot and have many ideas in my head that I need to process and write out before I forget. Right now things are swimming around in my head in a blur.We took classes, attended school house presentations, experienced the madness that is sample spree, went to the Moda customer appreciation dinner, visited ALL of the booths, and went to the Modern Quilt guild meet up. 
(line for sample spree - This is the front of the line. We were in the way back where you can hardly see. The line went on and on after us too. Crazy.
(Alex at the aurifil table. A table piled high with Aurifil. Heaven.)I loved meeting lots of people I know from the web. The Fat Quarterly team was just as fun in person as I had expected. Here Brenda and I are with Katy and Tacha.
And here's Tia. I wish Tia were my neighbor. I think we would have lots of fun sewing together. 
It was a great few days - everyone was really nice and I learned tons. I hope I can go again! Next time I'll have to take an extra suitcase for the return trip. I brought home twice the amount of what I took on this trip. Crazy.
Flashback Friday - campsite fun
1975 - Somewhere in the Colorado Rockies. It seems the camera had a timer...We were so easily entertained.
This campsite was right next to a beautiful lake and there was no one else anywhere around. We stayed here several days and hiked around the area.
I remember making this little town in the snow.
Summer Doodles
I started following Daisy Yellow a while back. I love the colorful photos Tammy puts on her blog. She mostly does Art Journaling, not something that I want to dive into but I love her experimental approach to it. She is not afraid to try new things.She has introduced a fun summer project, Index Card A Day, that I will give a try. The idea is to commit to some sort of creativity each day. I figure I can carry some cards and pens in my purse and doodle while I'm out and about. I know I have had some great quilt ideas get away from me because I didn't jot them down. So, some of my doodles may be quilt inspiration. Even when things are really busy I should be able to doodle on an index card.I started on June 1st and my first two cards are miniature versions of my favorite projects from Art Club. The index cards are not the greatest paper for watercolor but it was fun to do in small scale.
Go buy a pack of index cards and join the fun!You can see more ICAD pictures here.I'm off to bake some more cookies for the weekend's graduation festivities.
May Merriment
There is always a flurry of activity in May. There is much to do outside in the yard and gardens, in addition to end of school activities. This year we also have a lot of graduation related events.This weekend P and I worked a bit in her fairy garden. The plants from last year all look happy there. We put in a few new plants but still have quite a few seeds to get in the ground.
We put in fence for the peas and weeded the vegetable garden. B did a bit of mowing and working on the house. D installed the toilet in our new bathroom upstairs! M wrote a term paper and had a couple of music gigs. P had her spring recital with others in the studio. I also made 20 books covers from these papers for the art club students. We have all done a bit of spring cleaning.
When it gets crazy busy like this I do try to make time to walk the yard and see what's in bloom.
I don't want to miss any of that!Since on the go knitting seems to be all I can fit in for now, I have also been progressing on a few portable projects like new socks for B.
That yarn in the background is making its way to the top of the knit pile too! I need to decide what to make with it.I'm currently working on socks for myself using the same rib pattern as these mitts.
Today I hope to make M's graduation and recital invitations. He has a much bigger list of people to invite than his brother had two years ago.
Flock of Turkeys
I am glad P is around to remind us of the importance of family holidays even when it is just the five of us here. She loves all of the little details that set a holiday apart from any other day. Last year when we had Thanksgiving dinner with friends, there were place cards for each of us on the table. P remembered this and set to work yesterday morning making place cards for our table.I had a quick idea of a way to add a turkey to spiff them up. Here is a quick tutorial if you want to make your own (If we had thought of this before Thanksgiving day I would have posted it earlier. You can just file this idea away for next year.)First, gather your tools. We used a two inch flower punch, a one inch circle punch, a standar hole punch, glue, and a fine point marker.
You will also need some fancy paper. Double sided craft paper works best for the tail section.
Next, cut out one of each size circle for the turkey body parts. From left to right they are the tail, body, and head.
Fold the largest circle so that the back edge peeks out behind the front. Glue the folded paper together and then add the body and head as shown. Use the marker to make a face.
Lastly you will glue the turkey to the card and add legs.
The legs can add quite a bit of character to the turkeys.
Attracting Fairies
This spring P and I started a flower garden over by her playhouse. She has been hoping that the fairies would like it well enough to move in. She has been working to attract them. She has put interesting rocks in the garden.
Most recently she added a shell.
The plants have started to fill in a little.
She is thrilled that some of the plants are getting more "fairyly".
Just look at these Jack-in-the-Pulpits. How could a fairy NOT like that?
And don't these hosta flowers look like little dancing fairy skirts?
The other day we found THREE mushrooms and the following flowers that we didn't even plant!
Johny Jump Ups must be very fairyly. Just the name sounds like it.
Little Miss Petunia is VERY encouraged.I'll let you know if we have any fairy sightings.
Snow Day!
We FINALLY had some fresh snow! There was even enough for schools to be canceled yesterday. Yay! We knew there would be no school before we went to bed so we slept in and then played. P and I made snow angels and lots of mitten shaped holes in the snow. She wanted to take a walk but high stepping in the snow was harder than she thought it would be. We did explore the garden space. Look at those old sunflowers.
I finished another project yesterday too. P chose a beautiful rhinestone jewel for the front of the doll sweater.
There is a larger rhinestone button on the back. She thinks it is very beautiful.
Now, I think I may be ready for some Olympic knitting. We cast on tomorrow night.
Yesterday evening we had a fairy sighting. P said the wings didn't help her gofaster or help her fly. But, she said, they did make her smile.
They made me smile too.
They made me smile too.Play Time
P and I had a play day today. I got to wear my fantabulous vintage apron that was in my stocking while we prepared a tea party with some of P's new (vintage) tea party stuff. Ack. I can hardly stand the cuteness of it all --the "Three Little Kittens" dishes, those little ice cream bowls, and wood handle utensils. And don't you just love that tiny cake holder???!!!
We set out this morning making some tiny shortbread cookies.
After the first tray which only held four tiny cookies we switched to a slightly larger play tray. The tiny cookies bake in about half the time of the regular cookies.
We also made a tiny layer cake to fit in that little cake holder. With the cake, ice cream, cookies, and milk it was a fun party! And the servings weren't so big that they spoiled dinner.
Actually, the boys said that you could accidentally inhale one of those cookies and never even notice!Boys.What do they know? I guess that is why they were not invited to the party.
